I -
“Have you ever been to the planet they call Utopia?” The man suddenly asked Samantha as he grabbed her by her right arm. She almost lost her footing and turned to the man with a glare.
“Excuse me?”
“I asked if you have ever been to the planet called Utopia.” As he slowly let go of her arm.
Samantha wondered if the man was joking or serious. Utopia was just a word for a place that exists only in the head of philosophers and hopeless romantics. She looked at his silver hair, narrow eyes taking refuge behind spectacles, fading grey long sleeves shirt folded at the elbow and black pants. Something didn’t feel right.
“No. I haven’t. Can I be on my way now?” Samantha asked as she turned to leave. She felt the hand on her bag and felt she was being robbed.
“Just come in.” He begged. “I am not going to take too much of your time. And it doesn’t cost a lot too. In fact…”
“Did he just mention money?” Samantha asked herself as the man droned on. She had only her fare on her. Even if she was interested in whatever she was offering, she didn’t have the money to pay; except she walked the way home. She glanced at him, he didn’t seem like he had anything that would make her walk home.
“Mister, I’m leaving.” Samantha began in soft low voice. “If you don’t leave me alone, I am going to call the police on you. You are harnessing me.”
“I’m sorry miss. But I need to fed for my little boy. Please, help me. Help us. Even, help yourself.”
Samantha sighed. She didn’t want to cause a scene but the man wasn’t leaving her with an alternative.
“Daddy, I’m hungry”
Samantha looked down to see a little boy pulling on the man’s black trousers. He was cute, except his clothes weren’t. He had a large bushy hair and soft shinning eyes. In spite of his beauty, Samantha could see hunger hovering around him like dark brooding clouds.
“Aright, let’s see what you have to offer.” Samantha announced reluctantly.
II -
It seemed like an optician’s shop. There were eye glasses everywhere. Samantha moved closer to pick one up and instantly began to sneeze. She dropped it at once and noticed all of the glasses had a fine coat of dust around them. She even saw a cobweb at the corner.
“Here. Here.” The man ran excitedly to Samantha and pointed her to a chair. He motioned her to sit. Samantha hesitated.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” The man took a rag that looked dustier than the chair and began to wipe. Samantha brought out her handkerchief and began to wipe the chair.
“Oh, well. It won’t matter for long though.” He muttered as he withdrew from the chair and watched her clean it.
Samantha wondered what he meant when he said it won’t matter for long. She tried to push her fears to the back of her head as she sat in the chair. The man walked to a shelf and picked one of the glasses.
“Oh, I don’t wear glasses. I don’t have an eye condition.” Samantha protested.
“We all have an eye condition.” came the reply with a chuckle as he wiped the glasses with the end of his shirt. “Here, try this one.”
Samantha looked at the pair of eye glasses, shrugged, close her eyes and put it on.
“What do you see?” Came the excited question.
Samantha looked around and couldn’t believe her eyes. The shelves were made of gold and the man was a king. A king? Samantha removed the glasses at once.
“Is this a trick?”
“No, it is not.” The man smiled as he took the glasses from her. “It is not a trick. It is illumination.” He explained as he picked another pair of glasses, cleaned it with his shirt and motioned her to try it on. Samantha collected the glasses and put it on.
“What do you see?”
“I see… I see you… You are gloom everywhere.”
“Gloom? That’s interesting”
“Yes, gloom.”
“And my little boy?”
Samantha looked around but could find him. So she stood up from the chair and made to look for him. Her eyes moved to the window and she stopped.
“Why is that man shinning?”
“Well, my dear. I guess wealth appeals to you.”
“What do you mean?” She asked as she took the glasses off. She then saw the portrait on the wall. The man in it wore a bespoke suit, had a flashy wrist watch and nice shoes.
“I mean, in your world, wealth is everything. The first pair I gave you is meant to make you like everything you see. You saw gold because that’s what appeals to you. The second one is what I call a revealer. It shows the things you value as shinning as the things you don’t as dull. And it seems my former self appeals to you more than my current self does.”
III -
“Take for instance, my little boy. Because you think he is handsome, you want to be near him. You associate handsomeness with niceness.” came the explanation.
Samantha had spent the last hour listening as the man explained perspective to her.
“Perspective is everything,” he had told her. When I asked you if you have ever been to Utopia, you thought I was mad. But you didn’t know what that your thinking is influenced by your perspective. A perfect world exist when we view the world through that lens. Your perspective defines your view of the world and how you relates with it.”
“Okay. I agree with most of what you’ve said. But what does that have to do with Utopia?”
“Everything. What is Utopia? A perfect world right? What makes a perfect world? Perspectives. Imagine we all agreed that women should marry two husbands. I know it ludicrous but just imagine a world were women married two husbands at the same time and no one saw anything wrong about it. It is going to be a perfect world for everyone in that world because they all share the same perspective on the same matter.”
“So the reason Utopia doesn’t exist because we all see things differently”
“No, Utopia exists. We just cannot experience it due to our differences.”
“But is it really possible to see the world the same way? Like to all agree on the same thing?’
“Well, with my glasses, it is. Once we change people’s perspective, we can change the world.”
“Wow! Then, whey are you hiding in here? You could change the world. You could be…”
“...a hero?” He smiled. “That’s exactly why I hide my work. The world might be a better place if we all saw things the same way; but it will be a boring place too. Besides, my work can be easily hijacked. Look around you, there are massive advertising campaigns out there to make you see things in a particular way. If they want you to try a new hair dye, say green, they’ll make you believe green is the new black. You’ll be stuck on it and then want to buy it. As far as that advert is concerned, a perfect world is a world of green hairs.”
“So are you going to sit down here and watch people ruin the world due to their wrong perspectives?”
“Who said there were wrong perspectives? You only think things are wrong because your perspective says so. And about what I am doing, that is why you are here. Rather than brainwash people or force them to wear glasses, I teach them about perspective…”
“...and get paid. What about Utopia…”
“We are currently in Utopia. My kind of Utopia isn’t a world where everyone sees and acts the same way. That would be a world of zombies. It is a world where we realise, understand and appreciate our differences. And right now…”
….….
“Oh God, this is getting too long,” The Philosophy student moaned as he looked at the word count and realised he had typed over one thousand words. “I might just have to write an essay instead.”
The end
This is my entry for theTell A Story To Me, And Win 5 SBD! Writing Contest by @calluna . I tried to make it short but I couldn’t. I hope it isn’t too long though - and forgive the abrupt end.
Thanks for reading
Blessings
[Image Source: Pexels]